NOC Recaps Into the Badlands: A Glimpse of the Other Side

Another week, another Into the Badlands recap that takes its cue from a Hamilton song. While it’s pretty obvious that I’m quoting Lin-Manuel’s soliloquy from the end of “The World Was Wide Enough” — fittingly about the lead-up and aftermath of a duel not unlike what Quinn and Ryder did last week — this week’s subtitle has as much to do with #GhostRyder as it does with the return of Sunny and Bajie who are just on the other side of the Badlands as well. And speaking of “other sides,” we see some characters aligning with other sides too. But really, it’s all about Quinn’s son on the other side.

That’s right. Not only is Ryder officially dead, he’s now haunting his father. Or is he? Throughout the episode, Quinn is visited by visions of his deceased son that are basically manifestations of Quinn’s tumor-addled brain. Ghost Ryder also represents things Quinn probably suspects about Veil, including the fact that she despises him and is going to bounce the second the door from the bunker is open.

Speaking of Veil, the aftermath of her encounter with Edgar isn’t ignored. In fact, Quinn’s Right Hand Man Declan not only knows about her botched attempt to escape, he also knows about Chekhov’s X-ray and Quinn’s tumor! Amazingly, Declan does not exploit this knowledge but uses it as leverage to keep Veil docile. Not sure how smart a plan that is, but then again, I’m not sure how smart a dude Declan is either.

Meanwhile, after taking an episode off, we are reunited with Sunny and Bajie (who’s still talking) as they enter upon Nos’ little kingdom on the other side of the Badlands. Remember Nos was the contact Bajie said could grant them passage into the Badlands in exchange for Silver Moon’s sword. Turns out Nos is a garbage human being that traffics in women and girls as much (if not more so) than scrap metal.

Of course, our hero isn’t going to be able to look the other way, as much as he may want to stay out of everyone’s business. Sure enough, when a Doll named Portia begs Sunny to free her and her daughter, Nos responds by assaulting and threatening them. Sunny will have none of this, even after they’ve made the transaction for the “shortcut,” which is basically a car straight out of Mad Max: Fury Road.

Before they make their leave, though, Sunny makes mince meat out of Nos’ goons. While Baije scoops up Portia and her daughter into the car and speeds away. Clearly Nos will not make an orphan out of Portia’s daughter.

Before the melee, Sunny learns of Quinn’s miraculous resurrection — just in time for the Easter episode, natch. This just steels Sunny to find Veil knowing that she probably isn’t as safe as he was telling himself. On the plus side? Sunny is still unaware of Veil’s unholy alliance with Quinn. At one point, egged on by Ghost Ryder, an increasingly unstable Quinn holds a knife to Henry’s tiny throat, and the only way Veil can get them out of this situation is to start making out with him. It’s as gross as it sounds.

Speaking of unexpected alliances — yes, the Badlands is basically Survivor now — it seems that Jade, who’s now Baron, is allying her self with Lydia to take out Quinn.

After grieving for Ryder — near the same spot her son died — Lydia leads a cadre of Clippers to Quinn’s hideout. Apparently, the underground bunker isn’t as secret as we thought since Lydia is basically “Quinn’s just hiding in his man cave.” You know it’s about to go down until…

As the horde of Clippers enter one of the tunnels, they must have tripped a booby trap as explosions rock through the bunker, taking out a number of Clippers. The explosion must have ripped a hole in the wall because in the next scene we see Veil, with baby in hand, running away as fast as she can.

Also running? M.K. wastes no time sneaking away from the monastery. After making his way through the woods, he happens upon a tree adorned with the decaying bodies of — other runaways? Disloyal abbots? Who knows. One of the corpses happens to be M.K.’s size, so now he has a new wardrobe.

Finally, we find the Widow back at home nursing her wounds from the disastrous Baron Conclave. After what happened last week, it seems that Waldo is on the outs as Widow once again confides in to Tilda and thanks her for saving their skins. She also no longer wants to heed Waldo’s advice to “play nice” with the other Barons. Instead, the ace up her sleeve is to form an alliance that no one, including the audience, could see coming. Namely, she’s also going to the “other side” and is teaming up with Quinn. Wha….?

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Published by Keith Chow

Keith is the editor-in-chief of the pop culture blog The Nerds of Color, a co-editor of the Asian American Comics Anthologies Secret Identities and Shattered, host of the podcasts Hard NOC Life, Southern Fried Asian, and DC TV Classics, and one of the founders of WICOMICON.
View all posts by Keith Chow